Sunday, 6 July 2008

Traditional coconut slice

You know how in trashy films when aliens abduct someone and replace them on earth with an identical imposter – there’s always a moment when the imposter gives themself away by answering a question in a way the real person wouldn’t causing a friend or relative to become suspicious? Well, I think the CCM (Caked Crusader’s Ma) had such a moment this week. It was Thursday and we were speaking on the phone when she asked me, “What are you baking this week?”. I replied that I hadn’t really thought about it yet. Long pause. “It’s Thursday and you haven’t thought about it yet?” asked the CCM, concern starting to seep into her tone. Don’t panic my lovely readers, I haven’t been abducted by aliens. For some reason no recipe had grabbed me. And then I saw this one.

Pastry, jam and coconut. Perfection. Particularly lovely is the layer of sticky, meringue like coconut. There is a lovely mix of texture – the firm pastry base, the sticky jam and coconut filling topped off with the crisp toasted coconut flakes.

The pastry layer is pressed into the tin, so no need for any rolling:

Next is a generous layer of jam:

Finally the coconut toppings:

Personal milestone: typing out this recipe was the first time I have correctly spelled “desiccated” without spellchecker reminding me that it doesn’t have two S’s in it!

- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.- Grease and line a deep baking tin approximately 18cm x 27cm.- First make the pastry. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.- Stir in the sugar, then add the two egg yolks.- Bring the dough together and add up to 2 tablespoons of water to get a nice moist dough.- Press the dough into the base of the tin. I use bulldog clips to hold the paper lining to the edge of the tin. If you don’t do this, you will find the paper moves about as you’re pressing the pastry into the tin.- Spread the jam evenly over the pastry.- Now make the topping. Whisk the egg whites until very soft peaks start to form. Keeping the whisk going, gradually whisk in the sugar until you get to the soft peak stage.- Fold in the desiccated coconut and spoon over the jam and pastry.- Scatter with coconut flakes (optional).- Bake for 20-30 minutes until the coconut toppings looks set and just starting to turn golden. Mine took 30 minutes.- Cool in the tin.- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.- Eat.

I could use some of my home made desiccated coconut in this wonderful recipe.You've certainly made a good coconut slice.I can see that you have been extremely busy making lots of other tempting cakes etc.

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About Me

So, the answer to the question you’re all asking: who am I? Well, a superhero never reveals their identity. I think it’s stated somewhere in the contract when you sign up for superhero-dom. Let’s just call me THE CAKED CRUSADER. By day (and night if I’m being honest) a mild-mannered City professional, but at weekends I become THE CAKED CRUSADER. Tirelessly fighting anti-cake propaganda and cake-related injustices – for SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, ALWAYS NEEDS CAKE (we’ll just skip over the fact that it’s usually me).

Batman’s got the batmobile, batcave etc. Superman does just great what with being able to fly and being really strong. Spiderman’s got that web thing going on. But I have better than them. For I have a credit card and could get one of these:

The purpose of my blog is simple – to spread the word that CAKE IS GOOD.Yes, it is calorific; that is why it tastes so nice.Yes, too much of it is bad for you; that’s what ‘too much’ means.Yes, we’re all told to eat healthily and we know that we should. But ask yourself this – and look very deeply into your soul before answering – when has a cup of tea and a carrot ever cheered you up? However, put that carrot into a cake and happiness will ensue. Quod erat demonstrandum – CAKE IS GOOD.

This site will catalogue cakes I have unleashed unto the world and my thoughts thereon.

By the way, I will never recommend how many portions you should get out of a cake because we’re all different. Plus, it will be very embarrassing when I say it serves 4 and you get 20 portions out of it.

WARNING: Too much time spent on this blog may cause hunger.

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About Me

I am a 40-something Chartered Accountant working in the square mile.
My main hobbies at the moment are baking, and setting the world record for the number of cake tins owned by one person.
I spend far too much time watching Spongebob Squarepants and would love to try a Krabby Patty...I know, I know - it's not real.